Boys volleyball: TARS RALLY!

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The runway is more precarious, with elimination

from the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs awaiting any misstep.

But the Newport Harbor High boys volleyball team continued to “poll”

vault its way toward a potential defense of its section crown Friday

night.

The unseeded Sailors (16-5) rallied to knock off top-seeded Marina, 7-15,

13-15, 17-15, 15-12,. 15-9, in the Division I quarterfinals at the

Sailors gym.

It was the third time this spring the Tars have upset the No. 1 team in

the division, having previously conquered former top dogs Mira Costa and

Sea View League rival Irvine.

The Sailors, who survived three match points in game three to eliminate

the Vikings (17-2) for the third straight postseason, will take another

shot at Mira Costa in Wednesday’s semifinal at a site to be determined.

The unseeded Mustangs toppled fourth-seeded Loyola in five games Friday

on the road.

“I thought we could pull this off, coming in,” Newport Harbor Coach Dan

Glenn said. “But then we kind of gave away those first two games.”

The hosts squandered a 10-5 lead in the second game, before earning its

second straight five-game triumph. But, then again, beating Marina has

become habit for the Sailors, who are now 7-0 against the Sunset League

power the last three seasons.

Newport swept the Vikings in last year’s quarterfinals, at Marina. But it

didn’t appear the Sailors would see the semifinals again this year, when

Marina turned a 14-11 third-game deficit into a 15-14 lead. The visitors

served for the match three times, but Harbor kills by Billy Clayton,

Blake Tipett and Clayton again, staved off what seemed inevitable at the

time.

After a Viking net violation tied the game, a Marina hitting error set up

senior setter Kent Turner, who ripped a jump serve ace on the back line

to trigger a wild celebration that was later rendered mild by a

decibel-delivering home crowd.

Clayton, a 6-foot-5 senior outside hitter bound for Stanford, amassed a

team-high 43 kills to key the comeback.

But Clayton was only one of several heroes for the hosts, who would not

have prevailed without the tireless talents of senior setter Kent Turner.

Turner, darting relentlessly through the Harbor formation to distribute

88 assists, was also huge from the service line. He blasted four aces and

two more service winners. For good measure, he chipped in three kills and

three stuff blocks.

Senior middle blocker Dustin Illingworth had 19 kills and a team-high

eight blocks, while Tippett, a junior, added 13 kills.

Sophomore Brian Gaeta had eight kills, as did junior Christian

Berg-Hansen, who helped solidify the vacancy left by senior middle

blocker Brad Craig, who sustained a severe ankle sprain in Tuesday’s

second-round victory. It’s an injury which appears season-ending.

The Sailors, however, were obviously unwilling to see their season come

to a halt, despite facing a 9-3 deficit in the fourth game.

An ace by Adam Tomalas, whom Glenn also singled out for clutch serving

down the stretch (two aces and one winner), finally pulled the hosts even

at 12 in Game 4.

Marina, led by senior Greg Wooton’s 44 kills, could manage only two

sideouts, before Berg-Hansen forced the finale with a kill on game point.

With a raucous crowd keeping the beat, Harbor rolled to an 11-3 lead in

the final game, but Marina closed to within 12-9.

An Illingworth stuff block and a Tippet kill put the Tars on the verge of

victory, before an errant Viking spike gave Harbor the match point it

battled just more than three hours for.

“I’m very proud of our kids,” Glenn said.